Photo by House of Commons

Josh Simons, the Labour minister facing calls to be sacked over his alleged role in a smear campaign against journalists, appears to have accidentally sent details of his case to a Labour MPs’ group chat, including that he had been reassured by a senior Labour figure that the investigation into him has concluded he didn’t break the ministerial code, and that Keir Starmer will ask his ethics adviser to conduct a “fast” further probe into the matter.

A leaked message hastily deleted from a group chat showed Simons, a Cabinet Office minister and former director of Labour Together, apparently share details of the investigation into him. The message included the information that the Prime Minister will ask “Laurie” – Laurie Magnus, Starmer’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards – to “look into” his case, but that the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team “did find I had not broken the code”.

The former Labour Together director is accused of paying a PR firm £36,000 to investigate the personal, religious and political backgrounds of journalists reporting on the think tank’s undeclared funding. Simons has in recent days said he was “disturbed” to find the APCO report had delved into unnecessary information about one of the story’s journalists. It has since emerged that, weeks after receiving the report, Simons also reportedly passed information on journalists to GCHQ, while falsely claiming they had links to the Kremlin. Simons has not yet responded to the New Statesman‘s request for comment.

Starmer has faced calls to sack him from opposition parties and some Labour backbenchers, while the Sunday Times has called on Simons to step aside for a full investigation to take place. The matter has been under investigation by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team – the same government department in which Simons serves as a minister.

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Simons appears to have been informed by the Labour chief whip, Jonathan Reynolds, that the Cabinet Office probe has found he did not breach the ministerial code. However, a person familiar with the matter said the Cabinet Office doesn’t decide on whether or not the ministerial code has been breached.

The full message, sent by Simons into a Labour MPs’ WhatsApp chat, reads: “Jonny rang. PM will ask Laurie to look into it. Aim is to move fast. But PET did find I had not broken the code.”

[Further reading: Can Bridget Phillipson avoid a Send revolt?]

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